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Reviews
Say Amen, Somebody (1982)
Roger Ebert's review of "Say Amen, Somebody"
March 30, 1983 "Say Amen, Somebody" Four stars
Movies / Roger Ebert "Say Amen, Somebody" is the most joyful movie I've seen in a very long time. It is also one of the best musicals and one of the most interesting documentaries. And it's also a terrific good time. The movie is about gospel music, and it's filled with gospel music. It's sung by some of the pioneers of modern gospel, who are now in their 70s and 80s, and it's sung by some of the rising younger stars, and it's sung by choirs of kids. It's sung in churches and around the dining room table; with orchestras and a capella; by an old man named Thomas A. Dorsey in front of thousands of people, and by Dorsey standing all by himself in his own backyard. The music in "Say Amen, Somebody" is as exciting and uplifting as any music I've ever heard on film. The people in this movie are something, too. The filmmaker, a young New Yorker named George T. Nierenberg, starts by introducing us to two pioneers of modern gospel: Mother Willie May Ford Smith, who is 79, and Professor Dorsey, who is 83. She was one of the first gospel soloists; he is known as the Father of Gospel Music. The film opens at tributes to the two of them - Mother Smith in a St. Louis church, Dorsey at a Houston convention - and then Nierenberg cuts back and forth between their memories, their families, their music and the music sung in tribute to them by younger performers. That keeps the movie from seeming too much like the wrong kind of documentary - the kind that feels like an educational film and is filled with boring lists of dates and places. "Say Amen, Somebody" never stops moving, and even the dates and places are open to controversy (there's a hilarious sequence in which Dorsey and Mother Smith disagree very pointedly over exactly which of them convened the first gospel convention). What's amazing in all of the musical sequences is the quality of the sound. A lot of documentaries use "available sound," picked up by microphones more appropriate for the television news. This movie's concerts are miked by up to eight microphones, and the Dolby system is used to produce full stereo sound that really rocks the theater. One of the phenomenons during screenings of this film is the tendency of the audience to get into the act. Willie May Ford Smith comes across in this movie as an extraordinary woman, spiritual, filled with love and power. Dorsey and his longtime business manager, Sallie Martin, come across at first as a little crusty, but then there's a remarkable scene where they sing along, softly, with one of Dorsey's old records. By the end of the film, when the ailing Dorsey insists on walking under his own steam to the front of the gospel convention in Houston, and leading the delegates in a hymn, we have come to see his strength and humanity. Just in case Smith and Dorsey seem too noble, the film uses a lot of mighty soul music as counterpoint, particularly in the scenes shot during a tribute to Mother Smith at a St. Louis Baptist church. We see Delois Barrett Campbell and the Barrett Sisters, a Chicago-based trio who have enormous musical energy; the O'Neal Twins, Edward and Edgar, whose "Jesus Dropped the Charges" is a show-stopper; Zella Jackson Price, a younger singer who turns to Mother Smith for advice; the Interfaith Choir, and lots of other singers. "Say Amen, Somebody" is the kind of movie that isn't made very often, because it takes an unusual combination of skills. The filmmaker has to be able to identify and find his subjects, win their confidence, follow them around, and then also find the technical skill to really capture what makes them special. Nierenberg's achievement here is a masterpiece of research, diligence and direction. But his work would be meaningless if the movie didn't convey the spirit of the people in it, and "Say Amen, Somebody" does that with great and mighty joy. This is a great experience.
Santa Sangre (1989)
Overlooked and brilliant
Many who remember Jodorowski's "El Topo" have never even seen this brilliant and bizarre masterpiece, which was shockingly neglected by the marketplace. What a strange conception: A cult of women who cut off their arms to honor their saint. And the strange passions of a tattooed circus knife-thrower, the gothic horror of a son condemned to act as his mother's substitute arms, and the beautiful enchantment of an outing for a group of retarded people.
La Ciudad (The City) (1998)
Heartbreaking stories of immigrants in New York
"The City" is a movie to treasure. It tells four stories about recent illegal immigrants to New York City. They come from Mexico and further south in Latin America, and they carry the hopes of their families at home that they will send back money from the promised land. It doesn't work that way. Although the TV news and music videos have drilled us to think of Latin Americans in terms of flash and style, music and sometimes drugs, the characters in this movie come from an entirely different world. They are hard-working people, who come from a world where they were respected. After all, anyone who goes to the trouble of becoming an illegal immigrant is, by definition, one of the most confident and ambitious citizens in his home community. The losers would be afraid to try. New York, we see, offers little. Men line the streets hoping to be hired as day laborers, and the cops threaten to sweep them away--for the crime of wanting to work. They're paid 15 cents apiece to scrape and hammer the mortar off of old bricks. In another story, a woman gets a job in a garment sweatshop, where piecework workers are hired and fired on whim. A man lives in his car and supports himself with a portable Punch and Judy show; he wants to enroll his daughter in school, which is their legal right, but because he has no permanent address no school will have her. And in a more hopeful story, a young man meets a woman and they fall in love--but the city defies them to be happy. "The City (La Ciudad)" was written and directed by David Riker, who comes out of the New York University Film School; fellow graduates like Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese have also been interested in the streets. It was photographed by Harlan Bosmajian, whose b&w work is realistic and poetic. One is reminded of "Bicycle Thief."